Defenseless Christianity: Anabaptism for a Nonviolent Church

by Gerald J. Mast, J. Denny Weaver, Greg Boyd (Foreword)

Entering a field of ongoing controversy, this book dares to offer a new model or vision—defenseless Christianity—for understanding Anabaptism, both present and past. An Anabaptism defined as defenseless Christianity should be seen as a nonviolent Christian movement with a world-reconciling theology despite the fact that some first-generation Anabaptists were not pacifists."I've been reading with interest the important work being done by Denny Weaver and others on violence in relation to our understandings of God, atonement, and eschatology. I've also been watching, with joy, the growing rediscovery of the nonviolent heritage of the Radical Reformation. So I enthusiastically await the release of Defenseless Christianity." —Brian D. McLaren, Author/Activist (brianmclaren.net)"My first reaction on reading Defenseless Christianity was, 'Them’s fightin’ words!' On further reflection, I’m gratefel for the gift Weaver and Mast have offered by provocatively addressing a host of issues in Anabaptist historiography and theology on behalf of 21st-century communities of Christ’s followers." —Nancy R. Heisey, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Church History, Eastern Mennonite University; President, Mennonite World Conference. "My hope is that God uses this book to call Anabaptists along with other Jesus-followers back to the beautifully foolish, enemy-loving, cross-bearing center of our faith." —Greg Boyd, Author, The Myth of a Christian Nation; Pastor, Woodland Hills Church; and Adjunct Professor, Bethel College (St. Paul, MN); in the Foreword"Mast and Weaver offer a persuasive, urgent, and provocative call for all who follow the way of Jesus Christ to embrace the practice of defenseless, nonviolent Christianity." —Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, Bethany Theological Seminary

Genres: Theology

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made many great assertions. With little evidence to back any of them up. Suffers from the same problem of many in academia in that it dramatically widens the scope of what it calls "violence" to include many scores of topics that are not actually violent, and many of which demonstrably do not exist, at least not in the ways their proponents argue. But very well written, despite its problems in certain particular topics.